Marchand & Ledecky eye gold – day five schedule

The Paris Olympics are well under way so what better way to plan ahead than with our day-by-day guide – all times BST.

Team GB has named a squad of 327 athletes and UK Sport has set a target of 50 to 70 medals at the Games.

There will be live coverage of Paris 2024 across the BBC on TV, radio and online.

The Games officially opened at a unique and spectacular opening ceremony along the River Seine on Friday, 26 July and will close on Sunday, 11 August.

Eighteen gold medals:

Artistic gymnastics (men’s individual all-around), BMX freestyle (men’s and women’s), canoe slalom (women’s C1), diving (women’s synchro 10m platform), fencing (men’s sabre team), judo (women’s-70kg, men’s -90kg), rowing (men’s quadruple sculls, women’s quadruple sculls), shooting (women’s trap), swimming (women’s 100m free, men’s 200m fly, women’s 1500m free, men’s 200m breast, men’s 100m free), triathlon (women’s and men’s individual).

Highlights

The men’s triathlon begins at 09:45 and GB’s Alex Yee will hope to be at the front of the action. Yee won Olympic silver in a pulsating Tokyo contest three years ago. Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt, who pulled past Yee to win gold that day, is back but has since moved up to Ironman distance then back down again, and it remains to be seen if he will master that transition.

The men’s all-around gymnastics final begins at 16:30, an event where athletes compete on all six apparatus to decide the best overall gymnast at the Olympics. Britons Jake Jarman and Joe Fraser have qualified, but defending champion and multiple world title-winner Daiki Hashimoto is the favourite.

We reach the freestyle BMX finals from 12:10, where GB’s Kieran Reilly is a proven champion on the world stage, though Charlotte Worthington failed to reach the women’s final. This is freestyle’s second Olympic appearance. To win gold, perform as many tricks as you can in 60 seconds and make sure they are better than anyone else’s.

Wednesday could bring a medal opportunity for GB’s Mallory Franklin in the C1 women’s canoe slalom (final from 16:25). Australia’s Jessica Fox, one of the greatest canoeists of all time and the Tokyo champion, will be one of Franklin’s biggest rivals. Watch out for Elena Lilik, who beat Andrea Herzog – Tokyo’s bronze medallist – to claim Germany’s sole entry in this event.

Brit watch

Rowing’s quadruple sculls finals begin at 11:26. Britain are the world champions in the women’s event and picked up 2022 world silver in the men’s race.

After waiting 64 years for a female diving medal at the Olympics, Britain could have two in five days as Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson aim for the podium in the women’s synchronised 10m platform from 10:00 BST. The British pair won silver at last year’s World Championships and bronze this year, but China’s Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan have won the last three world titles.

In shooting, Lucy Hall, a European silver medallist in 2022, will hope to feature in the women’s trap final at 14:30.

Jemima Yeats-Brown lost her sister and biggest fan, Jenny, to brain cancer just after winning Commonwealth judo bronze in 2022. Yeats-Brown says that has helped inspire a “life’s too short” approach to competing that helped her secure fifth at the World Championships in 2023. She fights in the -70kg category, where medal contests start at 16:18.

In hockey, GB’s women play South Africa at 09:30.

World watch

France superstar Leon Marchand will bid to become the first swimmer to win medals in breaststroke and butterfly events at an Olympics. He won the 400m individual medley on Sunday but faces a formidable opponent in the 200m butterfly final at 19:37 BST – reigning Olympic champion and world record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary. Marchand then goes for 200m breaststroke gold at 21:31 BST.

David Popovici, a superstar of the Romanian team, had a tough 2023 but returned to form by winning men’s 200m freestyle gold on Monday. The 100m freestyle is a chance for Popovici to secure a second gold after finishing seventh in Tokyo aged just 16. GB’s Matt Richards missed out on the final. Also watch for American Katie Ledecky in the women’s 1500m free (20:04).

In men’s basketball the US-South Sudan game (20:00) pits one of the most dominant teams in Olympic history against a first-time entrant. South Sudan became an independent state in 2011 and its basketball federation joined world governing body Fiba in 2013, so getting to the Olympics about a decade later is pretty good going, to put it mildly.

At the heart of that story? Luol Deng, who played basketball for GB at London 2012. Deng, who spent a decade playing for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, holds British and South Sudanese citizenship. For years as a coach, he has been a driving force (and financial force) behind the South Sudan team’s rise to Olympic status. Facing the US in Paris may be the pinnacle of that incredible story arc.

Expert knowledge

Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix come into Paris 2024 as history-makers before they even start their first dive. The duo won world silver last year, the first time Britain had won any women’s diving medal at that level. If they win another medal here – the women’s 10m synchro diving final starts at 10:00 – watch for some cartwheels on the BBC studio sofa, as Andrea’s dad is Fred Sirieix, star of First Dates turned BBC presenter at Paris 2024.

Gold medal events:

Artistic gymnastics (women’s individual all-around), athletics (men’s and women’s 20km race walk), canoe slalom (men K1), fencing (women’s foil team), judo (women’s -78kg, men’s -100kg), rowing (women’s double sculls, men’s double sculls, women’s coxless four, men’s coxless four), sailing (men’s and women’s skiff), shooting (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions) and swimming (women’s 200m fly, men’s 200m back, women’s 200m breast, women’s 4x200m free relay).

Highlights

British rowers are used to heaps of gold medals – more than 30 of them in Olympic rowing. GB were the top rowing nation at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. Then came Tokyo and not one gold. They were 14th in the rowing medal table, which was a shock.

Thursday might be the day we know if the Brits are turning that ship around. Helen Glover will hope to lead an impressive women’s four in the final at 10:50, while the men’s four won the world title in both 2022 and 2023. Their final is at 11:10. The space of about half an hour could play a huge role in deciding if this Olympic regatta is a GB return to form.

The rowers are not the only ones who had a Tokyo to forget. Joe Clarke did not make the team despite being the defending Olympic champion in K1 slalom canoeing. Now, he is back and will hope to be a big factor in the Paris final from 16:30.

The women’s all-around gymnastics final at 17:15 could see some remarkable history being made. If they are both healthy and nominated for this event, American duo Simone Biles and Sunisa Lee could make this the first women’s all-around final in which the past two Olympic champions have competed. Biles won in 2016, followed by Lee in 2020. If either of them wins gold, they will be the first woman to win multiple Olympic all-around titles since Vera Caslavska in 1964 and 1968.

Brit watch

Golf found its way back on to the Olympic schedule in 2016 after more than a century in the wilderness (or perhaps deep rough). At Paris 2024, the course is L’Albatros at Le Golf National in the Paris suburbs, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. The first round of the men’s event starts at 08:00 and features GB’s Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and a host of the sport’s other big names.

Luke Greenbank will hope to better his Tokyo bronze medal in the men’s 200m backstroke (19:37) at the pool. Meanwhile, Team GB have been top-four material of late in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay so could pose a medal threat there too (20:48).

Beth Shriever has remained dominant in BMX racing since winning Olympic gold in Tokyo. However, she fractured her collarbone at the sport’s World Championships in May, meaning one of GB’s big medal hopes has faced a race against time. From 19:20 we will see how that comeback has progressed as the early stages of her event take place. In the men’s event, Olympic and world silver medallist Kye Whyte is returning from a back injury of his own.

In hockey, GB’s men take on hosts France at 11:45, Ireland’s men play Argentina at 12:15 and GB’s women face the US at 16:00.

Showjumping begins with the team qualifier from 10:00. Scott Brash and Ben Maher, who were part of Britain’s gold medal-winning team at London 2012, are joined this time around by Harry Charles.

World watch

Back at the pool, Katie Ledecky may have a shot at some Olympic history by this point in the Games. If she has won two medals by this point – very possible, given the 200m free and 400m free will have been and gone, and she has won golds in both in the past – then a medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay (20:48) would be her 13th overall, a record for a US female Olympian. (Three American women, all of them swimmers, have previously reached 12: Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin.)

The men’s and women’s 20km race walks begin at 06:30 and 08:20 respectively. Chinese veteran Liu Hong, the 2016 women’s champion, is trying to end a run of five years – ages, by her standards – without a major title. Spain’s Maria Perez is the world champion, having been on the brink of quitting the sport in 2022 after back-to-back disqualifications at that year’s European and world championships. Another Spanish athlete, Alvaro Martin, is the men’s world champion.

At Roland Garros, we reach the first tennis semi-finals from 11:00.

Expert knowledge

The first sailing medals of the Games will be awarded in the skiff class. For the men, this means the 49er, and for the women it is the 49er FX (a version designed to work with a lighter two-person crew than the 49er).

Saskia Tidey is at her third Olympics and representing her second country in sailing. Tidey sailed for Ireland in 2016, then switched to GB for Tokyo once it became apparent that she had no suitable Irish partner available in the two-person event. Tidey and GB team-mate Charlotte Dobson finished sixth three years ago, and now Tidey is back with new partner Freya Black. The two were European bronze medallists in May.

GB’s James Peters and Fynn Sterritt, in the men’s event, said before the Games they had been trying to put on weight after realising they were one of the lighter boats in the men’s fleet. Britain are the defending champions in this event after Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell won gold three years ago.

Gold medal events:

Archery (mixed team), athletics (men’s 10,000m), badminton (mixed doubles), BMX racing (men’s and women’s), diving (men’s synchro 3m springboard), equestrian (jumping team), fencing (men’s epee team), judo (women’s +78kg, men’s +100kg), rowing (men’s coxless pair, women’s coxless pair, men’s lightweight double sculls, women’s lightweight double sculls), sailing (men’s and women’s windsurfing), shooting (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions), swimming (men’s 50m free, women’s 200m back, men’s 200m individual medley), tennis (mixed doubles), trampoline gymnastics (women’s and men’s).

Highlights

Keely Hodgkinson, tipped to be one of Team GB’s biggest stars in Paris, appears for the first time in the 800m heats from 18:45. The 22-year-old is hoping to upgrade Tokyo silver to gold in 2024. Earlier, Dina Asher-Smith will be in the opening stages of the women’s 100m from 10:50. She, like Hodgkinson, won the European title in her event last month.

Jack Laugher will dive with his third different partner in as many Olympics when he competes in the men’s 3m synchro diving from 10:00. Anthony Harding is Laugher’s team-mate this time. They have won two world silver medals together, each time behind China. Laugher won this event with Chris Mears at Rio 2016.

It is BMX racing finals day. If Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte have recovered from pre-Games injuries and are still in the running, they will have to negotiate the semi-finals before the gold-medal races from 20:35. Both riders are in the world’s top six. France have a trio of highly rated riders on the men’s side, while Australia’s Saya Sakakibara is seeking redemption in the women’s event after a semi-final crash in Tokyo.

Bryony Page stunned the field when she took the first Olympic trampoline medal in Britain’s history, silver in 2016. She added bronze in Tokyo and has won two of the past three world titles, setting up one another bid for gold aged 33 before she pursues her dream of joining the acrobats at Cirque du Soleil. Qualifying is at 11:00 before the final at 12:50.

Lightweight scullers Emily Craig and Imogen Grant missed a medal in the women’s lightweight double sculls by 0.01 seconds in Tokyo. Since then, they have won back-to-back world titles and are considered one of the British rowing team’s best hopes for gold in Paris. The final takes place at 11:22.

In sailing, windsurfing reaches its final day. This year’s windsurfing event involves a new class, iQFoil, which replaces the old RS:X class. The way the IOC explains the difference is that “instead of floating, the board appears to fly” in the iQFoil class because of hydrofoils that lift the board out of the water at certain speeds. Emma Wilson, who won RS:X bronze in Tokyo, has world silver and bronze medals in iQFoil and will hope to be going for a podium place on Friday.

Brit watch

Swimming on Friday features GB’s Ben Proud versus American Caeleb Dressel in the men’s 50m freestyle (final at 19:30). Dressel is the Tokyo Olympic champion, while Proud has a gold and two bronzes from the past three World Championships. Australia’s Cameron McEvoy will also be hoping for a medal.

In shooting, world number one Seonaid McIntosh takes aim in the women’s 50m rifle three positions from 08:30. The “three positions” part means you shoot kneeling, prone (lying down) and standing.

Friday’s equestrian highlight is the team jumping final at 13:00, featuring a British team who took world bronze behind Sweden and the Netherlands in 2022.

In hockey, Ireland’s men play New Zealand at 16:00, followed by GB against Germany at 19:15.

World watch

Returning to the pool, the men’s 200m individual medley (19:49) offers an opportunity for French swimming star Leon Marchand to try to surpass Ryan Lochte’s world record time. Lochte’s record is one minute 54.00 seconds, while Marchand got down to 1:54.82 in winning world gold ahead of GB’s Duncan Scott and Tom Dean last year. Tokyo silver medallist Scott and Dean will hope to make the Paris final, while Tokyo champion Wang Shun of China is back. In the men’s 50m freestyle, France will be cheering for Florent Manaudou, London 2012 gold medallist in the event and one of the hosts’ two flagbearers at the opening ceremony.

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei has dominated the men’s 10,000m but was beaten by Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega in an extraordinarily humid Tokyo 2020 final. Both are back for 2024 and this is the only title on offer during the opening night of athletics (20:20).

Badminton’s mixed doubles final (15:10) is highly likely to have at least one Chinese entry and it would be no surprise if, like Tokyo, the final was between two Chinese teams. Three years ago, Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong were defeated by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping. Gold medallist Wang has since retired, so silver medallists Zheng and Huang Yaqiong may end up facing Huang Dongping and new partner Feng Yanzhe this time around.

Archery’s mixed team final takes place from 15:43. In Tokyo, an arrow from South Korea’s An San hit and split an arrow shot by team-mate Kim Je-deok on their way to gold in this event. This is almost impossible to achieve and is known as a “Robin Hood arrow”. According to World Archery, this may have been the first time a Robin Hood arrow was ever filmed in competition. The two arrows are now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Tennis reaches the mixed doubles final and men’s singles semi-finals (11:00-20:00).

The men’s football quarter-finals take place in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Bordeaux with kick-offs between 14:00 and 20:00.

In women’s 3×3 basketball, two of the world’s top-ranked nations – France and the US – meet at 12:00.

Expert knowledge

Teddy Riner will try to equal the Olympic judo record for three individual gold medals in front of his home crowd. The 100+kg event’s medal rounds begin at 16:49.

Riner is virtually unbeatable. Between September 2010 and February 2020, he won 154 consecutive contests. At the Tokyo Olympics, he had to settle for bronze after losing to Russia’s Tamerlan Bashaev, his first defeat at the Games since 2008. He has not lost at Grand Slam or World Championship level since Tokyo.

Gold medal events:

Archery (women’s individual), artistic gymnastics (men’s floor, women’s vault, men’s pommel horse finals), athletics (men’s shot put, women’s triple jump, mixed 4x400m relay, women’s 100m, men’s decathlon), badminton (women’s doubles), equestrian (dressage grand prix special team), fencing (women’s sabre team), judo (mixed team), road cycling (men’s road race), rowing (women’s single sculls, men’s single sculls, women’s eight, men’s eight), shooting (women’s 25m pistol, men’s skeet), swimming (men’s 100m fly, women’s 200m individual medley, women’s 800m free, mixed 4x100m medley relay), table tennis (women’s singles), tennis (women’s singles, men’s doubles).

Highlights

Britain’s fastest female sprinter, Dina Asher-Smith, will hope to line up in the 100m final at 20:20. Asher-Smith has changed coach and moved to train in Texas since a disappointing eighth place in last year’s world final. “I want to win the Olympics and I want to run really fast,” she has said. Big rivals include US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson. Richardson has the year’s leading mark of 10.71 seconds.

At 16:10, the pommel horse final is Max Whitlock’s chance to deliver on his aim of an unprecedented fourth consecutive medal on the same gymnastics apparatus. Ireland’s world champion and pommel horse specialist Rhys McClenaghan will have his sights on gold. The women’s vault final (15:20) may feature Simone Biles, the Rio 2016 champion, returning to an event from which she withdrew in Tokyo.

This is the last day of rowing and the very last final on the list is the men’s eight (10:10). Britain won this event in 2016 but New Zealand were the winners in Tokyo. GB have recovered to win the past two world titles. Defending champions Canada, Romania and the US are contenders in the women’s eight (09:50).

Dressage’s team event concludes from 09:00. GB have not been off the Olympic podium since a memorable victory at London 2012, but can they get back to the top step?

Brit watch

It is the penultimate night at the pool. GB smashed the world record to win the mixed 4x100m medley relay (20:33) when it was held for the first time at the Tokyo Games. This is a great relay to watch as there is a heap of strategy involved in looking at your team’s strengths and weaknesses, then deciding who you put on which leg. It is often not clear which team’s plan is paying off until the final moments.

Cycling returns with the men’s road race (10:00). GB have qualified a full four-man team that features Tom Pidcock, who only just competed in Olympic mountain-biking last week, never mind half of the Tour de France before dropping out with Covid. The course reaches a climax with three laps of cobbled climb before a downhill stretch and a sprint towards the Trocadero.

Kayak cross is new at the Olympics. If you have seen snowboard cross at the Winter Olympics then – yes, that, except in whitewater. Instead of the usual Olympic slalom canoeing against the clock, paddlers race each other to the finish. They have to turn around in whitewater, flip their boats and perform all sorts of other manoeuvres along the way. The opening rounds begin at 14:30 and Team GB have some of the world’s best athletes.

Saturday’s hockey includes GB’s women versus Argentina at 09:00.

World watch

Serena Williams, Monica Puig and Belinda Bencic are your last three women’s singles tennis champions at the Olympics. Who will it be this time? World number one Iga Swiatek has Olympic success in her blood – her dad, Tomasz Swiatek, was a rower for Poland at Seoul 1988. The hosts will pin their hopes on Caroline Garcia making it this far. This is also the day of the men’s doubles final, an event that includes Andy Murray and Dan Evans plus Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski for GB.

Elsewhere in the night’s swimming action, Katie Ledecky has a shot at a fourth consecutive gold in the women’s 800m freestyle (20:09). It could be close, though. Last time, in Tokyo, Ariarne Titmus was just a second behind her – the first time anyone had been within four seconds of Ledecky in an Olympic final over this distance.

On the track, the men’s 100m first round (from 10:45) allows us a first look at world champion Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman, both representing the US, as well as GB trio Zharnel Hughes, Louie Hinchliffe and Jeremiah Azu. Keep an eye out for “Africa’s fastest man” Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya and Jamaican title challenger Kishane Thompson.

The decathlon concludes with the 1500m race at 20:45. France’s Kevin Mayer, a silver medallist in Tokyo and Rio, will be trying to upgrade that on home soil, although team-mate Makenson Gletty comes in with a better world ranking. Canada, boasting Olympic champion Damian Warner and world champion Pierce LePage, will be tough to beat.

Badminton’s women’s doubles is a big target for Indonesia. Apriyani Rahayu won Tokyo gold with Greysia Polii and is now paired with Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti after Polii’s retirement. China’s Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are the favourites. The two teams meet each other in the group stages, which may help set the scene for Saturday’s final (15:10).

Women football reaches the quarter-final stage with games kicking off at 14:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00.

Expert knowledge

Ledecky is not the only athlete capable of racking up a fourth gold medal in an event on Saturday. Skeet shooter Vincent Hancock won gold in Beijing, London and Tokyo for the US, a remarkable record marred only by finishing 15th in Rio. This time around, Hancock is coming in ranked 17th in the world.

As of the start of Saturday, only six people have won the same individual event four times at the Olympics: Denmark’s Paul Elvstrom in sailing, Americans Al Oerter and Carl Lewis in athletics, Japan’s Kaori Icho and Cuba’s Mijain Lopez in wrestling, and Michael Phelps for the US in swimming.

Nobody has ever won the same individual event five times at the Olympics (although it could happen in Paris – see Tuesday, 6 August). Ledecky at LA 2028, anyone?

Gold medal events:

Archery (men’s individual), artistic gymnastics (men’s rings, women’s uneven bars, men’s vault), athletics (women’s high jump, men’s hammer throw, men’s 100m), badminton (men’s doubles), equestrian (dressage grand prix freestyle individual), fencing (men’s foil team), golf (men’s round 4), road cycling (women’s road race), shooting (women’s skeet), swimming (women’s 50m free, men’s 1500m free, men’s 4x100m medley relay, women’s 4x100m medley relay), table tennis (men’s singles), tennis (women’s doubles and men’s singles).

Highlights

Sunday at 20:55 is go time for the men’s 100m final. Will Zharnel Hughes be on the start line for GB after a world bronze last year? Will Noah Lyles become the first American to win this event since 2004? Can Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo pull off an upgrade on last year’s world silver?

Roland Garros hosts the Olympic men’s singles final. Many fans would love a Nadal-Djokovic Olympic final on clay here. They have met once before at the Games, in the Beijing 2008 semi-finals, which Nadal won. Realistically, the Spaniard may have a better chance of a medal in the doubles. Serbia’s Djokovic, meanwhile, is trying to win the one big title still missing from his collection.

The final round of the men’s golf competition begins at 08:00. American Xander Schauffele will be in Paris to defend his title, and he has said an Olympic gold medal is proving increasingly valuable in a sport that, until Rio 2016, was all about its four majors. Spain’s Jon Rahm will be one of the highest-profile LIV Golf players at the Games.

Lizzie Deignan is the first female British cyclist to be selected for four Olympic Games. Deignan – the London 2012 silver medallist and 2015 world champion – is joined by national champion Pfeiffer Georgi, Anna Henderson and Anna Morris for Sunday’s women’s road race, which starts at 13:00. A strong Dutch team for this race features Ellen van Dijk, Demi Vollering, Lorena Wiebes and Marianne Vos, who won gold in London 12 years ago.

Brit watch

With Charlotte Dujardin pulling out on Tuesday, team-mate Lottie Fry – daughter of Laura, who rode at Barcelona 1992 – could be one of the biggest challengers in this event.

In gymnastics, Jake Jarman won world vault gold last year and backed it up with a European title in April. The 22-year-old has the chance to turn that form into an Olympic title at 15:25. Becky Downie could be a contender in the uneven bars from 14:40.

Amber Rutter welcomed her first child to the world in April. Now she’s shooting for skeet gold at Paris 2024 (qualification from 08:30, final from 14:30). Rutter missed Tokyo 2020 through a positive Covid test just before she travelled, which she says was devastating at the time but ultimately helped reshape her life goals to include both personal priorities and Olympic aims.

In track and field action, world silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith is in the opening round of the men’s 400m from 18:05.

Men’s hockey reaches the quarter-final stages.

World watch

The first round of the men’s 110m hurdles begins at 10:50. Grant Holloway was the Tokyo favourite until he “lost composure” in his words and allowed Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment to thunder past. Holloway has since won both available world titles and is on the US team for Paris. In the women’s 400m hurdles first round (11:35) watch for another American, defending champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, testing herself against Dutch world champion Femke Bol.

The last night of swimming at Paris 2024 (from 17:30) features four finals: the women’s 50m free, men’s 1,500m free, men’s 4x100m medley and women’s 4x100m medley. Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom is a big contender in the women’s 50m free, while the women’s 4x100m medley could turn into a classic US-Australia battle. GB won men’s medley silver in Tokyo.

The table tennis men’s singles final could be an opportunity for China’s Ma Long to extend an extraordinary Olympic streak (13:30). Ma comes into the Games having won all five Olympic titles available to him since 2012 – three team, two individual.

Expert knowledge

We are well into the quarter-finals and semi-finals of boxing’s various weights. In the women’s middleweight division (75kg), where quarter-finals take place on Sunday, UK-based Cindy Ngamba is fighting for the Olympic Refugee Team. Ngamba is unable to return to Cameroon, where she was born, because of her sexuality – homosexuality in the country is punishable with up to five years in prison. She is the first boxer ever selected for an Olympic refugee team.

Fencing at Paris 2024 concludes with men’s team foil (19:30), a perfect finale for the hosts, who are the defending champions. To score a point, you need to strike your opponent on their torso, shoulder or neck with the tip of your weapon. You also need to have “right of way” which, if you’re new to fencing, is a concept best left to the referee, who decides which fencer has attacking priority at any given time. In the team event, everyone cycles through a series of mini head-to-head match-ups until one team scores 45. Alternatively, the highest-scoring team wins if the ninth and final bout ends without either team reaching 45.

Gold medal events:

Artistic gymnastics (men’s parallel bars, women’s balance beam, men’s horizontal bar, women’s floor), athletics (men’s pole vault, women’s discus throw, women’s 5,000m, women’s 800m), badminton (women’s singles, men’s singles), basketball 3×3 (men’s and women’s), canoe slalom (men’s and women’s kayak cross), shooting (men’s 25m rapid fire pistol, mixed team skeet), track cycling (women’s team sprint), triathlon (mixed team relay).

Highlights

In a fast and dazzling Tokyo 800m final, Keely Hodgkinson delivered a sensational Olympic silver medal in a time that broke a British record set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. Three years later, can she go one better? Athing Mu, who took gold in Tokyo, will not be in Paris after falling during US Olympic trials, but Kenyan world champion Mary Moraa will. The final starts at 20:45.

When mixed team triathlon (starts 07:00) was introduced to the Olympics in Tokyo, the GB team of Jonny Brownlee, Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee won it. This time around, France and Germany are likely to be major medal threats.

Action starts at the Velodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, just west of Paris. Track cycling’s opening day includes the women’s team sprint (from 16:00, final 18:58), where GB have qualified a team for the first time since London 2012. Sophie Capewell helped GB to world silver in the event last year. Her dad, Nigel, recorded fourth-place finishes in Paralympic track cycling at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

Kayak cross reaches a climax with the women’s final at 15:55 and men’s final at 16:00. GB’s Joe Clarke has back-to-back world titles in this event, which is new to the Olympics and features paddlers racing each other along the rapids. Clarke’s team-mate Kimberley Woods also won world gold last year. France are likely to be a big factor in both events.

Could this be the last time you see Simone Biles in action? The beam final (11:36) and women’s floor final (13:20) take place on artistic gymnastics’ last day at Paris 2024, which is 27-year-old Biles’ third Olympic Games. The beam final could see the baton passed to the next generation, since Hezly Rivera – at 16, the youngest athlete on the US team – won this event at US Olympic trials.

Brit watch

The world might be focused on Biles but GB will be keeping an eye on Joe Fraser, who is a past world and European gold medallist on parallel bars. That final begins at 10:45.

Sport climbing, which made its debut at the Tokyo Olympics, returns from 09:00 with more medals this time around. What was one combined event in Tokyo is now two competitions in Paris. The first is boulder and lead, where climbers work to solve short but complex climbs in bouldering then go for maximum height in lead climbing, all of which is done in set time windows. The second is speed climbing, which is against the clock.

The change in format opens up new avenues for competitors like GB’s 19-year-old Toby Roberts, already multiple times a champion in boulder and lead climbing at World Cup level.

Hockey’s women’s quarter-finals run throughout the day.

World watch

Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis keeps on setting pole vault world records. His latest was 6.24m in April this year, and you can expect him to entertain the Paris crowd while trying to better that in his final from 18:00. France’s Renaud Lavillenie will not be there to rival him – the London 2012 champion has struggled after hamstring surgery and did not hit the qualifying height of 5.82m.

Elsewhere on the track, the first round of the men’s 400m hurdles (09:05) is a chance to see Norway’s Karsten Warholm, the Tokyo champion, and biggest rivals Rai Benjamin of the US, who has the better form coming into Paris, and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos.

3×3 basketball reaches a climax with the women’s final at 21:05 and the men’s final at 21:35. The US won the women’s title in Tokyo, while Latvia are the defending men’s champions.

Badminton concludes with the women’s singles final at 09:55 and men’s singles final at 14:40. Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen was the only European to win an Olympic badminton title in Tokyo three years ago and could go all the way again in Paris. South Korea’s An Se-young and China’s Chen Yufei are among the favourites for women’s gold.

Football’s men’s semi-finals take place at 17:00 and 20:00.

Expert knowledge

Artistic swimming, formerly known as synchronised swimming, begins at 18:30 with the team technical routine. This is one of the few instances in which a major change to a sport will result in precisely nothing different for anyone watching.

A rule change allowed men to take part in the team event for the first time in Olympic history, but – perhaps partly because the change took place only 18 months ago – no men actually qualified, so this will still be an all-female event. “This should have been a landmark moment for the sport,” governing body World Aquatics said, promising to work harder to help male athletes succeed.

Forty-five-year-old Bill May was the only male artistic swimmer with a realistic chance of selection, but the US left him out of their team. Before that, May had said no men at the Games would represent “a slap in the face”. US selectors said they had to pick the strongest line-up.

Gold medal events:

Athletics (women’s hammer throw, men’s long jump, men’s 1500m, women’s 3000m steeplechase, women’s 200m), boxing (women’s 60kg), diving (women’s 10m platform), equestrian (jumping individual), sailing (men’s and women’s dinghy), skateboard (women’s park), track cycling (men’s team sprint), wrestling (men’s Greco-Roman 60kg, men’s Greco-Roman 130kg, women’s freestyle 68kg).

Highlights

The women’s 200m final (20:40) could be stacked with US talent. The three Americans named for this event are the three fastest women in the world over this distance in 2024: Gabby Thomas, McKenzie Long and Brittany Brown. GB’s Dina Asher-Smith was the world champion in 2019 and a world bronze medallist in 2022. Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, the Tokyo champion, has withdrawn from Paris 2024 through injury.

The men’s 1500m is likely to star Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who broke the European record earlier this month. His main obstacle? GB’s Josh Kerr. We have not seen Kerr over 1500m this season but he is the world champion and declared himself on Instagram to be “working in the shadows, getting ready for the spotlights”. The final takes place at 19:50.

In skateboarding, it is the women’s park final at 16:30. Sky Brown was 13 when she won Olympic bronze for GB in Tokyo and now, aged 16, she is back on the team. Not only that, she enters the Games having won last year’s world title.

Ben Maher and Explosion W won a six-way jump-off to take Tokyo individual jumping gold, completing back-to-back GB victories after Nick Skelton won the same event (also in a six-way jump-off) in 2016. This time, Maher is back for GB on Point Break. Watch out for Swedish duo Henrik von Eckermann and Peder Fredricson. Fredricson has had the heartbreak of being second to the Brits in the jump-off in both Rio and Tokyo. The final starts at 09:00.

Brit watch

Women’s team pursuit qualifying begins in the velodrome at 16:30. Germany set a world record to defeat GB in Tokyo’s final. Since then, GB have gone through a rebuild and made their way back up the world podium to become world champions last year. However, Katie Archibald is out of the Games after breaking her leg in a freak garden accident, so it remains to be seen how her team-mates regroup.

Sailing has scrapped its Finn class, which is unfortunate from a British perspective given GB had won it the past six times. That means attention turns to Micky Beckett in the single-handed dinghy (the ILCA 7, which you might also know as the Laser), which has its medal races on Tuesday. Beckett was a world silver medallist last year and has since racked up major wins like the Princess Sofia Regatta.

On the women’s side of that class, GB’s Hannah Snellgrove is competing after what she characterises as a 15-year battle for selection, during which she earned money as a local journalist and part of a folk music act to keep her sailing career going.

World watch

Ireland’s Kellie Harrington will hope to successfully defend her Tokyo 2020 lightweight boxing title (final at 22:06). Harrington went years without defeat before losing at the European Championships in April.

Amy Broadhurst, who switched to Britain after missing out on selection for Ireland, narrowly failed to make the GB team. But Harrington may have to contend with France’s Estelle Mossely, who won the Olympic title before her in Rio then turned pro. Mossely, who has won 11 and drawn one of her 12 professional fights, returned to amateur status and made the French team in the lightweight category.

China have won every women’s 10m platform diving event at the Olympics since 2008. The past two times, they took the silver medal as well. Gold and silver have gone to China at each of the past four world championships, too. That means GB’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, who took world bronze this year, has a job on to get any further up the podium – but it’s not impossible. The final is from 14:00.

Women’s football semi-finals take place at 17:00 and 20:00.

In hockey, the men’s semis are at 13:00 and 18:00.

Wrestling’s first Paris 2024 medals are awarded, bringing with them a chance to watch some history. In the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg final (19:30), Cuba’s Mijain Lopez – if gets there – could become the first person to win the same individual Olympic event five times in a row, two weeks before his 42nd birthday.

Expert knowledge

It’s OK to take some time to adjust if you’re a British track cycling fan. Paris 2024 will be the first time since 1996 that the GB line-up for an Olympics has not included one or both of Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Jason Kenny. In that time, GB won the men’s team sprint three times in a row from 2008 to 2016, but the Dutch knocked the British off that perch in 2021. Watch the event from 17:59.

(What’s that, you really need Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny to be there? Fine – Kenny is now the GB sprint coach, so he will still be in the velodrome, while Hoy is part of the BBC’s coverage team.)

Gold medal events:

Artistic swimming (team acrobatic routine), athletics (marathon race walk mixed relay, women’s pole vault, men’s discus throw, men’s 400m, men’s 3000m steeplechase), boxing (men’s 63.5kg, men’s 80kg), sailing (mixed dinghy, mixed multihull), skateboard (men’s park), sport climbing (women’s speed), taekwondo (men’s 58kg, women’s 49kg), track cycling (men’s team pursuit, women’s team pursuit), weightlifting (men’s 61kg, women’s 49kg), wrestling (men’s Greco-Roman 77kg, men’s Greco-Roman 97kg, women’s freestyle 50kg).

Highlights

Matthew Hudson-Smith is considered the centre of a British revival over 400m after GB failed to field an athlete in this event three years ago. Hudson-Smith has come through a series of injuries and mental health struggles to be one of the world’s leading male 400m runners this season. Rivals in his final (20:20) could include American Quincy Hall and Grenada’s Kirani James, one of a six-strong Grenada team at Paris 2024 and the only Grenadian ever to win an Olympic medal (three, including gold at London 2012).

It is team pursuit night at the velodrome. Britain’s men did not make it to the final in Tokyo, while the women finished with silver. Can Team GB recapture some of their track cycling dominance in one of the Olympics’ most exhilarating split-screen events? Find out from 17:04.

John Gimson and Anna Burnet narrowly missed out on a Tokyo Olympic title in sailing’s mixed Nacra 17 class, a racing catamaran. They are the 2020 and 2021 world champions but their nemeses in this class are Italy’s Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti, who won Tokyo gold and have taken the past three world titles, too. Can Gimson and Burnet find a way past in Paris? The medal race is today.

In the 470 mixed dinghy class, also finishing today, GB have 2022 world silver medallists in Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote. Grube, 39, who twice finished fifth at the Olympics in the men’s 470 alongside Luke Patience, was coaxed out of retirement to pair up with 23-year-old Heathcote.

Brit watch

The first round of the men’s 800m (10:55) features Ben Pattison, who won a surprise world bronze medal last year. Team-mate Max Burgin ran Pattison close at June’s British Championships and has previously posted world leading times, but has struggled with injury in recent years. Jake Wightman, who won a European silver medal in 2022, is also on the start list for GB.

In skateboarding, the British are used to the idea that in Sky Brown, the sport has one of Team GB’s youngest stars. But you can be an amazing skateboarder a little later in life, too. Andy Macdonald is on the team at the age of 50 – he will be 51 by the time Wednesday rolls around – making him the oldest athlete in Olympic skateboarding’s short history. He has a child older than team-mates Brown and Lola Tambling.

Macdonald, a veteran of eight X Games gold medals in the late 90s and early 2000s, announced in 2022 that he would switch from representing the US to GB in a bid to reach Paris. His park event’s prelims are at 11:30 and the final is at 16:30.

World watch

Thailand have never won an Olympic medal in a sport other than boxing, taekwondo or weightlifting. Atthaya Thitikul has a chance to change that and has been installed among the bookies’ favourites for gold in Paris women’s golf. Nelly Korda, the defending champion, won six of her first eight tournaments this season but has since missed a series of cuts. The first round starts at 08:00 with GB’s Georgia Hall and Charley Hull in action alongside Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow.

At the athletics track, the first round of the women’s 100m hurdles (09:15) includes Nigerian world record-holder Tobi Amusan, cleared to compete by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in late June after a row over alleged missed doping tests. Commonwealth bronze medallist Cindy Sember runs for GB.

Australia’s Nina Kennedy and America’s Katie Moon shared the women’s pole vault world title last year and still appear almost inseparable heading into the Games. Add to that GB’s Molly Caudery, who was fifth last year at the Worlds but is widely tipped to make the Olympic podium having just set a British record of 4.92m. That is the world’s best mark so far this year and would have been enough to beat Moon and Kennedy in 2023. The final starts at 18:00.

The women’s speed climbing title (from 11:28) could be between US duo Emma Hunt and Piper Kelly.

Artistic swimming’s team event concludes from 18:30. The absence of Russia blows this contest wide open, since the Russians have won every Olympic team title in this sport from 2000 onwards. China and the US might step in.

Hockey’s women’s semi-finals are at 13:00 and 18:00.

The first weightlifting medals are awarded. In the men’s 61kg, Indonesia’s Eko Yuli Irawan could become the first weightlifter to earn an Olympic medal in five consecutive Games, although he has never won gold.

Expert knowledge

The Olympic 50km race walk, a feat of extraordinary endurance for athlete and spectator alike, is a thing of the past. It was the only men’s athletics event on the 2020 programme that did not have a women’s equivalent, while the four hours or so needed to televise it often did not electrify broadcasters.

Its replacement? The race walk mixed relay. Each team sends one male and one female athlete, who each do two alternating stages of around 10km.

The course is inspired by the Women’s March on Versailles of 1789, a key event in the French Revolution. Expect to see the Grand Palais, Louvre, Palace of Versailles and Eiffel Tower.

Gold medal events:

Athletics (women’s long jump, men’s javelin throw, men’s 200m, women’s 400m hurdles, men’s 110m hurdles), boxing (women’s 54kg, men’s 51kg), canoe sprint (men’s C2 500m, men’s K4 500m, women’s K4 500m), diving (men’s 3m springboard), hockey (men’s), sailing (men’s and women’s kite medal series), sport climbing (men’s speed), swimming (women’s 10km marathon), taekwondo (men’s 68kg, women’s 57kg), track cycling (men’s omnium medal, women’s keirin), weightlifting (women’s 59kg, men’s 73kg), wrestling (men’s Greco-Roman 67kg, men’s Greco-Roman 87kg, women’s freestyle 53kg).

Highlights

Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones is hunting for a third gold medal from 08:10, with the gold-medal contest at 20:39. Jones won in London and Rio but suffered a shock early exit in Tokyo. Her build-up to Paris has not been perfect, not least a doping case where she avoided a ban over a refused test because of “very exceptional circumstances”. Up to now, no taekwondo athlete has won three Olympic golds.

Meanwhile, watch out for world champion Bradly Sinden looking to upgrade his Tokyo silver in the men’s taekwondo’s -68kg category. Sinden had to settle for second after a dramatic reversal in the dying moments of his final three years ago. He says that disappointment “will always be there” unless he wins in Paris.

Noah Lyles is one of the headline names at the track on Thursday. Lyles is one of the most dominant male sprinters since Usain Bolt, barely losing a race over 200m for most of the past decade. One of the ones he did lose? The last Olympic final, where Lyles finished third. Watch for GB’s Zharnel Hughes. The final is at 19:30.

Jack Laugher is back in the men’s diving 3m springboard. The final starts at 14:00. Laugher has silver and bronze in this event from the past two Olympics. Can he close the gap on China’s relentless winners in this event, or will it be a scrap to reach the podium?

In the velodrome, GB’s Ollie Wood and Ethan Hayter both have the experience needed to contend for a medal in the men’s omnium, with Hayter winning the world title in 2021 and 2022. France’s Benjamin Thomas also has multiple world titles to his name and will be targeting this event, which runs over four events starting at 16:00. The women’s keirin, where cyclists follow an electric bike in the opening laps before a sprint finish, could feature double European silver medallist Emma Finucane for GB (from 16:18).

The men’s hockey final takes place at 18:00 at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes, on the northern outskirts of Paris. This stadium is more than a century old, having been used as the main stadium at the last Paris Olympics in 1924.

Brit watch

The heptathlon rolls into action from 09:05 with the 100m hurdles, the first of seven events that decides the overall champion. GB’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson became world champion again in 2023 after years of injuries and disappointment, and will be joined by team-mate Jade O’Dowda.

In Marseille, kiteboarding’s Olympic debut reaches a climax. As it sounds, kiteboarding involves athletes using a giant kite to ride their board across the ocean. European champion Ellie Aldridge and Connor Bainbridge are the GB female and male entrants respectively. Athletes can hit speeds of up to 50mph.

World watch

Last time, Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment beat him to gold. Can anyone stand in the way of a men’s 110m hurdles title for Grant Holloway this time? The American looks in dominant form. The final is at 20:45.

The men’s speed climbing final (11:55) could feature Italy’s Matteo Zurloni, who burst to the peak of his sport with a world title last year. Having said that, a big factor in Zurloni’s win was a false start for China’s Long Jinbao in the final. If Long avoids the same mistake this time, it is likely to be an incredibly close event with a host of other names in the frame.

The first day of canoe sprint finals features the men’s K4 500m (12:50). Four people in a boat, half a kilometre of flatwater paddling as fast as you can, go. A vastly experienced German crew won this event three years ago and remains largely intact this time around, swapping in relative youngster Jacob Schopf, 25. The other three, between them, have six Olympic and 17 world titles.

Weightlifting’s men’s 73kg category could see a close battle between China’s Shi Zhiyong and Indonesia’s Rizki Juniansyah, who produced a stunning upset in April to beat team-mate Rahmat Erwin at a World Cup in Thailand and thereby take his place in the Indonesian team. Erwin is a two-time world champion who was expected to be one of the favourites in Paris. The event starts at 18:30.

Expert knowledge

The women’s 10km open-water swim begins bright and early at 06:30. The venue? The River Seine. This has been a big talking point in the build-up to the Games, because the Seine’s water quality is a major concern – so much so that last year’s test event was cancelled as the water was too dirty. The French sports minister, Amelie Oudea-Castera, even had to take a symbolic dip in the Seine herself just days before the Games started in a bid to reassure people that the water will be safe.

There is, however, reportedly a back-up plan. According to Reuters, officials have said the event could be moved to Paris 2024’s rowing and sprint canoeing venue “if all other contingency plans were exhausted”.

Gold medal events:

Athletics (women’s 4x100m relay, women’s shot put, men’s 4x100m relay, women’s 400m, men’s triple jump, women’s heptathlon, women’s 10,000m, men’s 400m hurdles), beach volleyball (women’s), boxing (women’s 50kg, women’s 66kg, men’s 71kg, men’s 92kg), breaking (women’s individual), canoe sprint (men’s K2 500m, women’s C1 200m, women’s C2 500m, women’s K2 500m), diving (women’s 3m springboard), football (men’s), hockey (women’s), rhythmic gymnastics (individual all-around), sport climbing (men’s boulder/lead), swimming (men’s 10km marathon), table tennis (men’s), taekwondo (men’s 80kg, women’s 67kg), track cycling (men’s sprint medal, women’s Madison), weightlifting (men’s 89kg, women’s 71kg), wrestling (men’s freestyle 57kg, men’s freestyle 86kg, women’s freestyle 57kg).

Highlights

“You’ll never run alone,” a mural proclaims in Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s home city, Liverpool. Come the end of the heptathlon’s 800m (19:15), she will hope to be running alone for just a few seconds, at the front of the Olympic pack. Johnson-Thompson came sixth in Rio as she emerged from the shadow of London champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, then injury forced her out of Tokyo mid-event. She heads to Paris as the world champion, where she is up against Belgium’s Nafi Thiam, herself searching for a remarkable third consecutive heptathlon Olympic title.

The men’s 4x100m relay final (18:45) is almost always the scene of triumph and disaster on a grand scale. In Tokyo, disaster for Britain arrived half a year after the event: the team, who won silver, were disqualified as a result of CJ Ujah testing positive for two banned substances. GB were fourth in last year’s world final, which was won by the US. Dina Asher-Smith is expected to lead the GB women’s sprint relay team if they reach their final at 18:30.

Track cycling on Friday includes the women’s madison (final at 17:09), won by GB’s Katie Archibald and Laura Kenny on its introduction to the Games in Tokyo. Neither Archibald nor Kenny will be in Paris, but British duo Neah Evans and Elinor Barker are more than capable successors who won world gold last year. The men’s sprint (from 13:41) offers one of the most captivating tactical events in cycling, where contenders can almost end up at a standstill in a bid to catch the other off-guard before racing to the line. GB’s Jack Carlin has Olympic and world bronze in the event.

The women’s hockey final is at 19:00. The Netherlands have only lost two of 35 outdoor internationals since the start of 2023 and are top of the world rankings by a mile. But as Belgium showed with a shock 2-1 win over the Dutch in June, that kind of form does not guarantee anything. GB, who beat the Netherlands for gold at Rio 2016 and finished third in Tokyo, come into this event ranked sixth in the world.

Beach volleyball’s women’s tournament concludes next to the Eiffel Tower (21:30). Recently, this event has been the domain of the US and the duo of Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes will expect to keep it that way. Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Duda Santos Lisboa were on separate teams in Tokyo, where Brazil suffered the disappointment of neither team making it past the quarter-finals. They have won world gold and silver together since.

Brit watch

There are four boxing finals on Friday’s card from 20:30: men’s light middleweight and heavyweight alongside women’s light flyweight and welterweight. While GB have no nailed-on favourites heading into the Olympic boxing tournament, there is a lot of potential. Depending on previous days’ results, this might be a chance to see the likes of Rosie Eccles, Patrick Brown or Lewis Richardson in action. Ireland’s Aidan Walsh, a Tokyo bronze medallist, will hope to feature in the men’s light middleweight.

Climbing’s men’s boulder and lead event has two finals from 09:15 to determine a winner. British teenager Toby Roberts goes up against the likes of Austria’s Jakob Schubert, a bronze medallist in a slightly different format three years ago and a formidable force in the more specialist world of lead climbing. Mejdi Schalck had been expected to be the hosts’ big hope, but he was defeated in qualifying, so France will be represented by Sam Avezou and Paul Jenft.

While we saw Tom Daley in synchro diving action earlier, this time it is the turn of two other Britons in the individual 10m platform contest (prelims from 09:00). Noah Williams, a European silver medallist in 2022, is joined by Kyle Kothari. Meanwhile, Grace Reid and Yasmin Harper are GB’s representatives in the women’s 3m springboard (final from 14:00).

The men’s marathon swim starts at 06:30. GB’s Hector Pardoe was a world bronze medallist earlier this year.

World watch

Brazil have been on every men’s football Olympic podium since 2008, winning the past two gold medals. Not this time. Brazil failed to even qualify for the Games, with the South American places going to Paraguay and Argentina. Will Spain add an Olympic title to their Euro 2024 glory? Or is this an opportunity for the hosts to win gold on home turf? The final is at 17:00.

Who will be the Paris men’s 400m hurdles champion? Norway’s Karsten Warholm is defending his Tokyo title and right up there with him are American Rai Benjamin and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos. Together, they are the fastest men in history in this event but it is rare to get all three racing each other at once. Will we see that tonight? The final is from 20:45.

Rhythmic gymnastics’ individual all-around final takes place at 13:30. This is a sport where the near-total absence of Russian athletes at Paris 2024 will have a significant impact. Germany’s Darja Varfolomeev, who moved to the country from Russia in 2019, is the world champion.

Expert knowledge

Breaking – also known as breakdancing, b-boying or b-girling – makes its Olympic debut on Friday. It has been a competitive sport since the 1990s. Here are some expressions to know.

Top rock is everything you do standing up, down rock is everything you do on the floor and some of the most acrobatic elements are called power moves, which include things like whole-body spins.

Each one-on-one competition is called a battle. Competitors take it in turns to perform for judges who are scoring for creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality.

The individual women’s final, or b-girls gold-medal battle, is at 20:23. Dutch teenager India Sardjoe is one to watch, as is Lithuania’s world and European champion Dominika Banevic, 17.

Gold medal events:

Artistic swimming (duet free routine), athletics (men’s marathon, men’s high jump, men’s 800m, women’s javelin throw, women’s100m hurdles, men’s 5000m, women’s 1500m, men’s 4x400m relay, women’s 4x400m relay), basketball (men’s), beach volleyball (men’s), boxing (women’s 57kg, women’s 75kg, men’s 57kg, men’s +92kg), breaking (men’s individual), canoe sprint (men’s C1 1000m, men’s K1 1000m, women’s K1 500m), diving (10m platform), football (women’s), golf (women’s), handball (women’s), modern pentathlon (men’s), rhythmic gymnastics (group all-around), sport climbing (women’s boulder/lead), table tennis (women’s), taekwondo (men’s +80kg, women’s +67kg repechage), track cycling (men’s Madison), volleyball (men’s), water polo (women’s), weightlifting (men’s 102kg, women’s 81kg, men’s +102kg), wrestling (men’s freestyle 74kg, men’s freestyle 125kg, women’s freestyle 62kg).

Highlights

Yes, you read that right, there are nearly 40 different gold medals being won on Saturday – the busiest day of Olympics action, by gold medals available, since September 30, 2000. All this action means the highlight is the entire day. Order in plenty of snacks and let’s give you a taste of what to look forward to.

The women’s football final is at 16:00. There’s no Team GB, while Sweden, third-place finishers at last year’s World Cup, did not qualify either. The US, Canada, Spain, Germany and hosts France will all fancy their chances of being in this game.

Laura Muir ran a British record in Tokyo to finish a second behind Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya. Kipyegon should start the Paris final (19:25) as the favourite as she tries to win a third Olympic title in a row. Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji and Birke Haylom could also be big factors, but Kipyegon has already broken her own world record once in Paris this summer – at the Diamond League in July.

The final round of women’s golf begins at 08:00. The US should have a strong shot at this gold medal through either defending champion Nelly Korda or world number two Lilia Vu. South Korean duo Amy Yang and Ko Jin-young are also among the pre-tournament favourites. GB’s Georgia Hall and Charley Hull have both struggled with injury in the build-up to Paris.

Ireland’s Michaela Walsh made history with brother Aidan when they became the first brother and sister to box at the same Olympics in Tokyo. Three years later, Michaela will be hoping she features in the women’s featherweight final at 20:30 after the disappointment of losing in the round of 16 last time. Team-mate and Commonwealth champion Jude Gallagher is an entrant in the men’s featherweight (final at 20:47). GB’s Delicious Orie, described by some as the next Anthony Joshua, is also a Commonwealth champion coming into the Paris super heavyweight category (final 21:51).

Team GB won both modern pentathlon gold medals at Tokyo 2020. Joe Choong’s win was the first time a British man has won Olympic gold in a sport that combines fencing, swimming, showjumping, running and shooting. Choong has since won two world titles. The showjumping is at 16:30, followed in quick succession by fencing, swimming and the “laser run” biathlon-style finale.

Brit watch

After a fierce selection contest, Rebecca McGowan got the nod over three-time world champion Bianca Cook (nee Walkden) to represent GB in taekwondo’s +67kg category. European champion McGowan has come through ankle surgery and an ACL tear to be at the Olympics. “If I can get through that then I can get through four fights in Paris,” she said earlier this summer. (Round of 16 from 08:10, final at 20:39.)

Track cycling’s men’s madison (16:59) is a tag-team points race: you and a partner do laps of the velodrome alongside a whole host of other teams. If you can gain a lap on everyone else, you get 20 points (a big deal). Every now and then, there is a sprint that will earn you bonus points. Most points wins. GB won silver on this event’s reintroduction to the Olympics three years ago, and the event is guaranteed televised chaos.

In the men’s 800m at the athletics track, defending champion Emmanuel Korir is out, meaning there’s a chance Kenya may not win this event for the first time since 2004. Only a chance, mind you. Korir’s replacement, Emmanuel Wanyonyi, was a world silver medallist last year ahead of GB’s Ben Pattison, who will hope to make the start line for the Paris final (18:25) alongside team-mate Max Burgin. Sudan-born Marco Arop won that year’s world gold medal for Canada, while Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati has looked good this season.

The men’s 10m platform diving final (14:00) is a chance for GB’s Noah Williams or Kyle Kothari to pick up a first individual Olympic medal. It is almost impossible to keep China off the top of the podium in this event but it can happen – Australia’s Cassiel Rousseau, a circus performer when he was younger, took the world title in 2023.

Molly Thompson-Smith was commentating on sport climbing during Tokyo 2020. Now she is on the GB team and hoping to feature in the women’s boulder and lead final from 09:15. Slovenia’s Janja Garnbret, who won the lone Olympic climbing title on offer to women three years ago, is again the one to beat. France will look to 19-year-old world silver medallist Oriane Bertone.

World watch

The men’s basketball final (20:30) is almost certain to feature the US. If it does not, that is one of the major shocks of the Games. Going back to 1936, there have been only three finals that did not feature the US – and one of those was a Games they boycotted. Why are they so dominant? Take a look at this year’s roster: LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry are just three of the all-star names. The US have not missed out on this gold medal since 2004.

Handball is a different story. The US have not qualified in men’s or women’s handball, other than as the host nation, since Barcelona 1992. The major powers here are nations like Spain and Denmark on the men’s side or Denmark and Norway on the women’s. More than anyone, though, France will be relishing the handball tournament in Paris: the hosts have the reigning Olympic women’s and men’s champions. With no Russian involvement this time, that might make more French medals even more likely. The women’s final starts at 14:00.

In athletics, the 4x400m relays (from 20:12) extend the relay drama into four nail-biting laps of the Olympic track. The US look like hot favourites in the men’s event. The women’s event might be complicated by the relay first round taking place on Friday morning with the individual women’s 400m final that night. If that leads some nations to change their line-ups for the early relay session – to preserve a chance of winning an individual medal later that day – then we could see surprise qualifiers for the women’s relay final. Jamaica are always big relay contenders and GB won two world bronze medals last year.

The men’s marathon starts at 07:00 as the Olympics uses one of its few remaining opportunities to milk every last drop of Paris scenery. Kenya’s two-time champion Eliud Kipchoge is one of the favourites in an event where many people will take time to remember the late Kelvin Kiptum, a compatriot of Kipchoge who broke the world record shortly before being killed in February when his car reportedly veered off the road and hit a tree.

Men’s breaking gets its chance to shine (gold medal at 20:23). American Victor Montalvo, or b-boy Victor, was the 2023 world champion.

Expert knowledge

Water polo reaches its women’s final at 14:35. If the US women make it this far, victory would make them the first team in water polo to win gold at four consecutive Olympics.

Head here for the guide to 11 August